Alleged middleman of gaming tycoon arrives for Senate hearing

February 14, 2017

Former police official Wally Sombrero, the alleged middleman of gaming tycoon Jack Lam, returned to the Philippines after staying in Canada for nearly three weeks to face a Senate hearing on Thursday.

Sombero told reporters on Tuesday that he did not plan to hide when he left on January 17. He said he sought a second opinion on his medical condition in Singapore and then conducted seminars on online gaming in Taiwan and Singapore plus meetings on the same topic at the US West Coast.

He cleared Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II of any involvement in a bribery case. He said he does not know Lam.

“For the record, I want to put this on the record. I have no knowledge of any connection or links that secretary Aguirre is involved with this bribery or extortion scandal,” said Sombrero.

Sombrero said he wants to appear before the Senate Blue Ribbon committee "to personally assert the fact that it was a consummated extortion rather than a mere perception of bribery."

The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee will hold its hearings on Thursday. The committee threatened to place Sombero in contempt for not appearing in previous hearings but Sombero said he got sick at the Vancouver airport.

Sombrero said he was stopped from boarding  by airport authorities and airline officials in Canada after he suffered "palpitations and shortness of breathing" due to diabetes.

Sombrero said he will be invoke his right to self-incrimination when he will attend the Senate hearing as a case was filed before the Ombudsman.

Lam fled the country late November after his online gaming facility was raided by immigration agents, who found out around 700 allegedly overstaying Chinese were working. DMS